We are carrying out the "Pan-STARRS Search for Kilonovae" which is a focused search for intrinsically faint transients, or rapidly evolving transients in galaxies which are closer than 200 Mpc in the ongoing Pan-STARRS Near Earth Object surveys (see Smartt et al. AstroNote 2019-48 for details).
In normal survey mode, Pan-STARRS takes 4 x 45s exposures in w, i or z each night reaching 5 sigma magnitudes of w<22, i<21 and z<20.5 in each frame (see Chambers et al. 2016, 1612.05560).
We report the discovery of an intrinsically faint transient PS19fbi (AT2019pyz) in the host galaxy SDSS J030746.47-004715.2, at a redshift of z = 0.038 or d = 168 Mpc (from NED). The transient was discovered at MJD 58736.56 == 2019-09-10.56, at m_w = 19.47 +/- 0.04. It is offset from the host by 0.03" S, 1.03" E (a projected 0.8 kpc radius from the galaxy centre). At this distance the absolute magnitude is M_w = -16.83 (assuming m-M = 36.13 and foreground extinction of A_r = 0.168).
The transient is within the 90% probability region of LIGO/Virgo event S190910h (at a compatible distance), but this is not surprising given the very large area (24000 sq degrees) of this map.
Spectroscopic classification is encouraged.
Information on all objects discovered by the "Pan-STARRS search for kilonovae" will be made available at http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/ps1threepi/. We will release AstroNotes for all these candidates and encourage spectroscopic classification or photometric follow-up. A finder is attached.
These discoveries are a byproduct of the Pan-STARRS NEO survey observations supported by the NASA Grants, including No. NNX14AM74G issued through the SSO Near Earth Object Observations Program.
Catalog | Name | Reported RA | Reported DEC | Reported Obj-Type | Reported Redshift | Host Name | Host Redshift | Remarks | TNS RA | TNS DEC | TNS Obj-Type | TNS Redshift |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TNS | 2019pyz [PS19fbi] | 03:07:46.553 | -00:47:15.23 | SN | 0.038 | 03:07:46.550 | -00:47:15.29 |
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